Kelly, Hall go courting for Kiryas Joel votes

Kiryas Joel — How much difference could one little ol' village make in a congressional race?

Chris McKenna

Kiryas Joel — How much difference could one little ol' village make in a congressional race?

Plenty, if the village is Kiryas Joel and the competitive race between Republican Sue Kelly and Democratic challenger John Hall for the 19th District seat comes down to a few thousand votes on Tuesday.

Both candidates have been courting the endorsement of the village's leaders — who command the larger of two Kiryas Joel voting blocs — and enlisting a posse of powerful politicians to help make their cases.

Last month at Kelly's request, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg met with Kiryas Joel Mayor Abraham Wieder and three other village officials, including Village Administrator Gedalye Szegedin, because they wanted to discuss Brooklyn matters with him, according to Kelly and a Bloomberg spokesman.

Meanwhile, the Hall campaign acknowledges that Eliot Spitzer, Hillary Clinton and other prominent Democrats have called Kiryas Joel officials to urge support for Hall.

"John has been to the Village of KJ several times," Amy Little, Hall's campaign manager, said yesterday.

The 6,100 or so registered voters in Kiryas Joel are a paltry number in an election that, according to the Kelly campaign, could draw between 170,000 and 200,000 votes.

But "in a close race, yes, it could be very important," Kelly spokesman Jay Townsend said.

Wieder's voting bloc is largely Republican but utterly pragmatic in its endorsements, supporting whatever candidates can win and deliver the goods while in office. Kelly got the nod two years ago but has no guarantee she will get it this time.

Townsend said Kelly asked Bloomberg to "put in a good word for her" when he met with the Kiryas Joel officials.